Dance For Your Life (A Dance Moms, Chloe Lukasiak fanfiction)
by AugustHope
Summary: In 2014, Chloe left the ALDC. She moved to LA with her family, found a new studio, and kept dancing. She never thought that 2 years later she would compete against old friends and enemies for a scholarship to the best dance school in America. There's something unexpected around every corner, and now Chloe must dance as if her life depends on it.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N; all written in Chloe's POV, unless stated otherwise. set 2 years in the future, so Chloe is 15. **

"Chlo, you've got mail!" My mom shouted from the kitchen. I could hear the excitement in her voice as I walked downstairs. I picked up the envelope from the table. "Open it, I want to know what it is." Clara said, pushing the rest of her Lucky Charms aside.

I turned it over and peeled the flap open. Inside was a letter and four purple lanyards with Dance For Your Life written on them in curly silver letters, each attached to an ID card. I reached for the letter, hoping it would explain.

_Chloe Lukasiak,_

_You have been selected to take part in a new televised dance competition, _Dance For Your Life_. You are one of fourteen specially chosen dancers from all over America. If you accept the offer, you and your family will travel to California, where you will stay for a minimum of two weeks, depending on how long you last in the competition. All expenses will be covered by the producers. The competition winner will receive 200,000 dollars and a full scholarship to the _Jasmine Hearts Dance Academy_. _

_Our contact card is enclosed. Please let us know if you will be taking part in this competition within 48 hours of receiving this letter._

_Greatest Wishes, Alexa Moffat and Abby Lee Miller._

"Mom." I said quietly, handing her the letter. She skimmed it quickly before looking up at me.

"Do you want to go? You and Clara will have finished school for the summer, so we'll be able to go if you-"

I sighed. "I'll do it."

Mom looked concerned. "Are you sure? I mean, it's televised, and remember what happened with Dance Moms, after-"

I rolled my eyes. She was so overprotective sometimes.

"Mom, I said I'll do it. It's a scholarship to Jasmine Hearts, only the best dance school in the country - and anyway, that was two years ago."

Clara frowned in confusion. "What happened two years ago?" She didn't remember any of it. She was only four or five when it happened. Mom smiled at her and ruffled her hair as she walked past. "It doesn't matter. Are you done with your breakfast?"

"I need to see your ID cards before you enter." The volunteer told us as I searched for mine in my bag. I finally found the card and he let us in, pausing to check Mom, Dad, and Clara's cards. The camera crew were filming as soon as we entered the challenge room. It looked like a normal dance studio, but there were seats at the left and right sides of the room for our families to sit and watch. Alexa Moffat greeted us and showed me to the changing room, where I changed into my new dance wear - a floral pink crop top and pink booty shorts, with a silver star on the bottom - then left my dance bag and shoes on the bench. The producer's assistant met me outside and directed me and mom to the interview room, where we sat in front of the camera.

"Chloe, we're going to ask you and your mom a few questions, and we just want you to answer honestly, and avoid swearing, okay?"

I nodded. The questions were simple - just things like "Introduce yourself and your mom, and say why you want to win," and "What do you think is your best dance ability?". The interview took an hour, and everyone else must have been doing theirs at the same time or earlier, because I was the last person to the challenge room. I stood at the end of the line and glanced across the room at the other thirteen dancers. Maddie and Mackenzie were the first two - of course Abby invited them - and Kendall and Nia were next to them. After that there were two girls that I didn't know, and Zack, Gino, Tyler and Travis stood in the middle, followed by Sophia Lucia, Autumn Miller, Kalani, and finally, me. I looked to the front of the room, where Abby and Alexa stood.

"Congratulations to all of you. Only the best dancers in the country were chosen to be on the show. Of course, we did invite some dancers who couldn't make it, so a few of you-" Abby paused, glancing at Kendall, Nia, Autumn and me. "-a few of you were our second choices." Lifetime will probably cut that out to make Abby seem nice, I think. After Dance Moms finished, they made Abby seem less mean on AUDC and Abby's Studio Rescue, in an attempt to stop the hate she was getting on Instagram and Twitter after she met with one of the producers, upset about a few nasty comments.

"For the first week, no one will be eliminated. We want to give you the opportunity to improve before elimination starts. But, because of this, the judges do not have call back cards." Alexa explained.

"This week's theme is turns. For your challenge, you will be taught a short turn combo, and you have 45 minutes to learn it. After that, you will perform it in groups of four or five, and if you mess anything up, you're gone. The winner gets to choose which of the three group dances they perform in, and who is in that dance with them." Abby told us. I smiled. Turns have always been my strong point. "And for the rest of the competition, the choreographer for the challenges will be...Gianna Martello!"

Gianna walked in and started teaching us the combo, while Abby and Alexa went into the interview room. The combo was easy - an eight count wait after the music started, two attitude turns, four pirouettes, a double compass, three a la secondes, and a quadruple coupe. Another camera crew came to film us learning the choreography. They stayed for the entire 45 minutes, though only a few seconds were aired. Abby and Alexa walked in and stood at the front with Gianna. They split us into three groups - I was with Kendall, Autumn, Maddie and Mackenzie.

My group was first, so I stood at the front, next to Maddie and Autumn.

Abby started playing the music, and we all waited the eight counts before starting the turns. I focused on the music instead of Abby, and I think that helped a lot. I finished the combo and stood in the final position, waiting for Abby to tell us who was going through to the next round.

"Mackenzie, you missed that last coupe. You're gone. Go and sit with your mother." Kenzie ran to sit by Melissa, who hugged her youngest daughter but kept watching Maddie.

"Kendall, you bobbled on your pirouettes. You've been taking ballet since you were a toddler. That's not acceptable - you're gone! You three - sit at the back while the other groups dance."

I smiled and sat by the wall with Maddie and Autumn to watch the other groups. Nia, Tyler, Travis, Kalani and a girl that I don't know danced next, and Nia, Tyler, and Travis were sent to sit with their parents. In the last group, only Sophia got through. Maddie, Autumn, Kalani, Jenna - the girl I didn't know - and I joined her at the front.

"Let's change this around a little. Instead of four pirouettes, do as many as you can, then continue with the combo." I shared a look with Maddie. Sophia had the world record for consecutive pirouettes - it was hardly a fair competition.

Abby started the music and after the eight count wait, we began the combo. Maddie and Kalani both did six pirouettes, Jenna did eight, Autumn managed nine and I got to eleven, but Sophia won the challenge, doing fifteen pirouettes before she continued the combo.

"Sophia, this week we have three group dances - two groups of five and one group of four - and your prize is that you can choose which dance you do, and who is in it with you. The group of four will be doing a contemporary ballet routine, called _Scared_. One group of five will do a lyrical routine called _Haunted_, and the other will do an acro routine called _Toys_. You have twenty minutes to decide. Everyone else, go to your dorms and unpack." Abby announced. I followed Maddie, Kenzie, Kendall, and Autumn into our dorm, Room 2, and started unpacking my suitcase, which Mom had brought from the hotel. I hung my clothes up in the small wardrobe beside my bed and put most of my stuff in the cupboard beside my bed.

"Chlo, which dance would you pick? I think I'd go with _Haunted_, if I'd won the challenge." Maddie asked as she checked her phone.

"_Scared_ would be good, but _Haunted_ would be my second choice. I really hope I don't get picked for the acro routine." I told her, pulling a book from my bag. The twenty minutes passed quickly and we were soon back in the challenge room, anxiously waiting for Sophia's decision.

"Sophia, have you chosen your routine and dance partners?" Abby asked, and Sophia nodded.

"I choose _Haunted_, the lyrical routine, and my dance partners will be Tyler, Travis, Chloe, and Maddie."

I smiled as Abby assigned the other routines, glad that I wasn't doing the acro dance.

"Alexa is choreographing _Scared_, Gianna is choreographing _Haunted_, and my friend Lola is choreographing _Toys_. Go and learn your dances! You compete on Sunday."

**AN; thanks for reading! **?** Please let me know what you think! **

**Chloe xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

We walked into the studio, where Gianna explained the title and theme of the dance. "The theme for this dance is a little girl who is being haunted by these demons. Sophia, as you won the challenge, you will be the lead - the haunted girl. Maddie, Chloe, Tyler, Travis - you will be portraying the demons. You will all need to use a lot of emotion and acting in this routine. I was thinking Sophia could start on the stage alone, and the rest of you join her at different parts of the dance..."

"Higher! These jumps need to draw the judges' eyes away from Travis and Tyler, who will still be waiting in the shadows, and towards Sophia!" Gianna shouted, making us repeat the middle section of the dance. It was the day before the competition, and everyone was stressed. Gianna dismissed us at five, so I had half an hour to get changed and re-do my hair before dinner. Kenzie, Kendall and Autumn were already in the dorm when Maddie and I walked in to get changed, laughing at a photo on Autumn's phone.

I switched my dance wear for a flowy blue top and denim shorts, then pulled my hair out of its ponytail and brushed it into a loose braid.

I frowned a little when I saw what was on Maddie's plate at dinner. She'd only eaten a yoghurt and some salad.

"That's not much...won't you be hungry later?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I'm not hungry. Anyway, there's a party at the beach later, and loads of us are going. There's bound to be some food there." She explained. "Wanna come?" I nodded. I wasn't really a fan of parties, but I needed to make some friends while I was here - I didn't want to spend every evening on my own - and since Maddie was the only girl from the _ALDC_ that I still talked to after_ Dance Moms_, I didn't have much choice at the moment.

We joined Kalani, Sophia, Autumn, Kenzie, Zack and Gino outside the door before heading towards the beach. Tyler, Travis, Jenna and Amy, the other girl I hadn't known at the challenge, were already there. I checked my watch as the others started dancing to the loud music blaring from huge speakers at the other end of the beach and grabbed Maddie's arm as she went to join them.

"Mads, are you sure this is a good idea? We have to be back there by nine, remember." Abby had set a curfew of nine o'clock, and every evening she looked in all of the dorms to check that everyone was in bed.

Maddie laughed. "Relax. Come on Chlo, we've got ages. Three hours is plenty of time."

"Two and a half." I corrected. "And we'll need time to get back."

She sighed, dragging me into the crowd.

"Maddie, it's time to go! We've only got fifteen minutes to get back." I yelled over the One Direction song that was blasting from the speakers. "We have to leave!"

I managed to drag her away from the crowd. "Abby's gonna be so mad if we don't get back right now."

Maddie sighed dramatically, as if it was me who had set the curfew. "Relax Chlo, I'm coming. I'm not so sure they are though." She pointed at the rest of the dancers, who were playing what looked like Truth Or Dare next to the water.

I considered walking over and telling them that Abby would be fuming if they didn't get themselves back now, but I didn't want to be known as the spoilsport for however many weeks I lasted in the competition. I turned back to Maddie and told her to quit messing with her phone - we had ten minutes to walk back and get to our dorms before Abby suspected anything. As we walked through the front door, I spotted Abby and Kendall, followed by several cameramen, heading into the lobby. Abby looked so mad. I stopped to hear what they were saying.

"I set a curfew of nine pm for all of the contestants. Kendall came to me at ten to nine, very concerned about the welfare of her friends, as she had realised that only Nia, Mackenzie, and Kendall herself were in the dorms."

Then Abby spotted me and Maddie hovering nervously by the door.

"Where have you been? It's five past nine!"

I glanced at Maddie, who looked like she was way past caring, and made something up on the spot.

"We were practising parts our dance for the competition and we lost track of time. It won't happen again." I lied. She seemed to buy it, mumbling something that sounded like "Go to bed," before she continued explaining the story to the camera man and followed Kendall outside.

We rushed up to the dorm, glad that Abby hadn't noticed the sand stuck to the bottom of my flip-flops, to find Kenzie in bed. I guessed that she'd come back early. Maddie collapsed on her bunk, practically asleep already, as I got my phone out of my bag. If Abby was headed to the beach, like I suspected, I had to warn the others.

To; _Kalani, Sophia, Tyler, Travis, Jenna, Amy, Autumn, Zack, Gino_

Message; _Kendall told Abby and I think she's coming 2 the beach. She will b so mad if u don't get back here rn and u need 2 have a good excuse ready!_

_Chloe xxx_

I sent the text quickly and hoped that they would have time to get away without her seeing them. I changed into my pjs and got into bed, deciding to wait until tomorrow morning to find out what had happened to the others.

**AN; Thanks for reading! Please review to let me know what you think, any ideas that you think I should include, and whether I should continue or not!**?

**Chloe xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

I groaned as my alarm went off. Since it was the day of the competition, we had to get up extra early - my group's dance practice started at 9am, instead of 10, because we had to start getting ready for the competition at 2pm, and Gianna wanted the dance to be perfect.

"Turn that thing off!" Kenzie yelled. Her group were lucky - they didn't have to start practice until 10.30. I switched it off and started getting ready. I picked a sparkly lilac crop top with a dark purple edge and straps, and matching booty shorts, to wear to practice. Maddie moaned as she got out of bed, grabbing a black crop top with pink sparkles and some pink booty shorts while I went down to get breakfast.

"Run through the dance once, and we'll work through the corrections after." Gianna told us as she started the music. I waited in my starting position for the first twelve counts, crouched by our main prop, a huge white bed. Sophia started on the bed, sitting up and then cartwheeling onto the floor, while we froze at the corners of the stage. As Sophia started turning at the centre of the stage. I joined her doing the first five fouettes, and Maddie joined in as we leapt across the stage. Travis and Tyler joined in about halfway through the dance, and Sophia collapsed in the middle as the rest of us danced around her for the last eight counts. We paused in our final positions, waiting for Gianna's critiques.

"Maddie, your turns were perfect, your facial expressions were great, everything was in time." Of course Maddie got a perfect critique. She was Gianna and Abby's favourite, and everyone knew it.

"Chloe, you were good but I need more facial expressions from you, and your technique has to be flawless." I frowned. I'd thought my expression and technique were pretty good. Clearly, Gianna didn't agree.

"Tyler, Travis - you both need to improve your facial expressions. You need to show your character with your emotions as well as your dancing."

"Sophia - you were early on the first fouette and you need to look more scared during the dance. Your character is terrified of these demons that are chasing her, and you need to show the judges that."

We ran the dance over and over until we ate a late lunch at half past one. I grabbed a plate of macaroni cheese from the counter and sat down with Maddie and Sophia.

I made my way through large dressing room to my table at the back. There was a large mirror, surrounded by lights, and I stuck a few pictures up at each side before I started getting ready. I brushed my hair and curled the ends a little, before I moved onto my make up. I added dark eyeliner, eyeshadow and blusher then went to collect my costume from the rack. It was a black, floaty dress with a gap at each side of the waist , with sparkles on the shoulder. It looked beautiful, but dark at the same time. After I'd got changed, I looked at the other costumes for our dance. Maddie's was the same as mine, while Travis and Tyler's were a similar style, but they were short black onesies with dark,floating cloaks. Sophia's looked like the costume Maddie wore for her solo 'Disappear' - it was a childish, white dress with a few rips and dark stains. She had a white bow tied in her hair, and looked similar to what I'd imagined when Gianna described the dance.

Our group were dancing last, so I took the oppurtunity to stretch while they performed.

"And now we welcome Sophia, Maddie, Chloe, Travis, and Tyler to the stage, performing _Haunted._" Sophia walked on first, lying on the bed in the centre of the stage. Maddie and I followed her on, and I rolled to the floor, curling up beside the bed. The music started and I waited for twelve counts before I started dancing. I thought I saw Sophia's foot slip a little on one of her turns, but I was too busy concentrating on my own fouettes to be sure. As the music faded out, we paused in our final positions for three seconds before lining up at the front of the stage to find out what the judges thought.

"Sophia." Someone passed her a microphone as the judges told her what they thought of her performance. Abby went first, as always.

"Technically, your dancing was flawless, but you need to use more emotion in the way you dance, not just your face. You may have looked scared, but you need to push that emotion into every movement and add more personal touches. You could have improved your performance even more by looking behind you every now and then, doing more acting as well as dancing."

Sophia nodded, turning to Alexa to find out what she thought.

"Your face was great, but I have to agree with Abby, you need to act some more in your dance."

Richie was the most positive judge out of the three, as he spent more time talking about what she did well.

They moved on to Travis next, who was early on the turn combination at the end, and Tyler was critiqued for missing a fouetté.

"Maddie. Your facials were amazing, you were technically amazing, your dancing and acting were flawless tonight, though I'd like to speak to whoever choreographs your next dance about giving you a more complex routine. " Of course, Abby gave Maddie a perfect review, ignoring the fact that she was a beat behind on the jumps and came in early for her turns.

She wasn't the only judge though, and I was glad that the other two pointed out some of Maddie's mistakes. It would help her improve as a dancer, and show Abby that her "perfect student" wasn't flawless after all.

Maddie nodded and accepted her critique, then passed the microphone to me.

"Chloe, you were very good tonight. Your technique was amazing, and you are very good at dancing as a dark character. But I want you look at your feet, and then have a look at Maddie's." I glanced at my own feet, with flesh-toned turners on, then looked at Maddie's bare feet. I knew what was coming next.

"You did well today, but you were far out-danced by Maddie, in bare feet, when you had turners on."

I nodded and looked to Alexa and Richie for their critiques.

"I'm sorry, Abby, but I have to disagree with you. Chloe was flawless tonight. She did bobble a little on her first turn, but I'm sure that was down to nerves. You could really tell that your character was a demon, and your emotion in the dance was amazing. "

Richie nodded at Alexa's comment.

"Chloe, you were brilliant tonight. The only thing I think you could do to improve is have more confidence in your own dancing! I would love to see you do some more complex routines as well, but I know that it's up to the choreographer to decide on that."

I was so relieved when I heard Richie and Alexa's comments. I walked off the stage with Maddie and Sophia, and went back to the dressing room. I walked through to the green room, where everyone else was waiting for the judges to make their decisions. No one was leaving this week, but they would decide who had the best and worst performances of the night.

As we waited, they showed the dances again. I sat between Maddie and Autumn in front of the sofa as the creepy music for Toys started playing. It was a bit like Where Have All The Children Gone, but the lyrics of the song were about toys coming alive, and seeming sweet, but turning evil. The dance was amazing, and so were the costumes - Kendall, Autumn and Kenzie each had a different coloured checked dress, with random patches sewn on, and Zack and Gino wore ripped t-shirts coloured shorts with patches on. They started the dance sitting in boxes at the back of the stage, and climbed out then stepped into a slow turn combination. The dance finished and then they showed Scared, which Jenna, Amy, Kalani and Nia danced in. It was going well until Kalani slipped and fell as she landed her front ariel. Everyone seemed nervous after that, and Jenna fell out of her last turn early, while Amy was late on the last jump. We'd just finished watching Haunted - Alexa was right, I had bobbled on my first turn, but it wasn't too noticeable. As the music faded out, one of the camera men walked in and told us that the judges wanted us to go back to the stage. We lined upon front of the judges and waited for them to announce who had the best and worst performances of the night, though I wasn't too worried because no one was going to be eliminated.

"When we say your name, step forward."

Abby glanced at a sheet of paper in front of her, where she'd probably written down the best and worst dancers for the week.

"Maddie. Chloe. Autumn. Kendall. Zack. Gino." I stepped forward.

"You had the best performances tonight. Congratulations. Go and sit with your family in the audience." I walked off the stage and sat with Mom and Clara in the front row. Our families weren't allowed to watch the challenges or rehearsals after the first one, but they watched the dances and elimination.

"Sophia. Nia. Kenzie. You were good tonight, go and sit with your parents."

The girls smiled as they walked off stage. That left Kalani, Jenna, Amy, Travis, and Tyler standing on the stage.

"Before I tell you what you could improve on in your dancing, I want to let you, and the other judges, know something I've noticed. All five of you were at that party last night. Maybe if you'd been here at nine last night, you wouldn't have been so tired and done so badly today. If you'd used your evening to fit in extra practice, like Chloe and Maddie did, then perhaps you would have had one of the best performances of the night, like they did."

Maddie glanced at me, her panicked expression mirroring mine, but Kalani didn't mention us being at the party. Everyone knew we'd gone, but Kalani was the only person still on the stage who had seen us leaving - the only person who could tell Abby where we really were before we saw her last night.

"Kalani. You fell when you landed your front ariel, which is a basic mistake. You used to be amazing at acro, but now you're slipping in a simple trick. Maybe you just had a bad day, but it's unacceptable. You need to be amazing next week, and make us forget what happened today. You're lucky that no one is getting eliminated today." Kalani nodded and walked off the stage as Abby moved on to Jenna.

"Jenna, Amy - you were both out of time in sections of your dance. Kalani fell, and it made you nervous. You can't let that get to you. She fell, she got up and kept dancing. You just have to do the same."

"Travis, Tyler - you both struggled with the turn combinations. The theme for this week was turns, so they should have been amazing. Even if you fell apart in the rest of the dance, your turns should have been spot on." Abby told them, before she announced that we would have ten minutes with our parents.

**Wow. 2k words in this chapter. **

**Chloe xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I don't want to make it too confusing, so I'm trying to stick with just Chloe's POV, but there is a bit of Maddie and Kendall in this chapter 'cause I thought it would be interesting to write. Request some POVs you want to see in your reviews please! Chloe xxx**

_**Maddie**_

"You danced so well, Kenzie! Just try to use more emotion, like your sister does. And remember to stretch every day." Mom hugged my sister then turned to me. "Maddie, you were amazing tonight!" She hugged me tightly, which I might have loved when I was two, or five, or eight, but when I was thirteen, I thought that I was way too old for Mom's hugs and kisses. I glanced across the room and saw Chloe hugging Clara as they smiled and laughed together. They seemed so happy , I wished my mom was more like Christi. Mom was always so serious with me and Kenz, and all she talked about now was dance. I turned around to hear her telling Mackenzie how she should practice her oversplits so she can use them in her tilts more, and- "...you need to work on your pirouettes, especially if you get a ballet routine this week." Kenzie sighed, pulling the ribbon out of her hair.

"Mom, I know already!" She complained. Mom ignored her, turning back to me.

"Maddie, you were great up there. Abby's never said you were off on your timing, and she didn't today. Honey, the other two judges don't know you, they don't watch you dance every day. Everyone else on that stage went into their turns and jumps at different times, but the judges want to say something bad about everyone. You were right on time, and everyone else was wrong. You have to believe in yourself, okay?" Mom said stupid things sometimes, but I didn't think that was one of them.

**_~9.30pm~_**

**_Chloe_**

I scrolled through my notifications on twitter,barely glancing at most of them. A lot of people were asking why I wasn't at my studio anymore, and why they'd seen photos of me in California. I decided to tweet an explanation - I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about the show until it aired, but I didn't want any rumors to start.

_I'm gonna be in Cali for a while. Can't tell you guys any more for now._

I tweeted, and replied to a couple of fans' questions while I'm online.

_I haven't quit dance. I'm working on a very secret project right now._

_Am I still at my studio? Depends what happens in the nect few weeks._

_I have a feeling you guys will like this one. Just wait and see._

I locked my phone and put it beside my bed, then curled up under the duvet. Everyone else was still up, but I decided to go to sleep early, ready for the next week of hard work, rehearsals, and more dancing.

**_Kendall_**

I glanced around the room and saw that everyone else had put their phones away, and it looked like they were all asleep. Checking on my iPod, I realised that it really was getting late, so I put my book down and switched my phone off. I was nearly asleep when I heard a sound from across the room. I rolled over I and switched my nightlight on.

"Guys?" I whispered. I didn't want to wake anyone up if it was just someone snoring or mumbling. I was about to switch the light off and go back to sleep when I heard a quiet voice from the bed opposite mine.

"Kendall?" Mackenzie sounded seriously upset. I stood up and walked over to her bed.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked quietly, crouching beside her.

"It's Mom." The younger girl sat up in bed, pulling her knees to her chest. "Today, when she came to see us, she kept saying how I should do better-" She paused to wipe the tears from her eyes. "And she kept telling Maddie that she was amazing and didn't do anything wrong, even though she messed up the timing a bit, and she would have told me off for that. Kendall, she doesn't care about me!"

"Kenzie, your mom cares about you so much. She just...well, Maddie's a really good dancer. Everyone knows it, including your mom, but she doesn't look past that and see that you're a good dancer too. She just wants to help you be as good as Maddie is." I told her. Her tears has sried up by then, and she sighed.

"You don't understand." Kenzie complained, curling up under the covers.

"Yes, I do! My older sister, Ryleigh - well, she's a really good dancer. And for ages, Mom barely noticed me at dance, because she was always watching Ryleigh, and paying attention to her, instead of me. Kenzie, believe me, your mom really does care about you. She just has a different way of showing it."

"Thanks, Kendall." She mumbled sleepily.

**_~10am~_**

**_Chloe_**

"This week, instead of a skill, the theme is... Fairytales. I have a group of four, two trios, and two duets this week. The winner of the challenge gets to choose their routine and who else is in it with them. The challenge is that you will be taught a combo, and each time you perform it, I will give you a character to portray. I will eliminate people as you dance. You have 45 minutes to learn the choreography - starting now." Abby announces, and Gianna starts teaching us the combo. It includes a few turns, jumps, and a tilt. We start the combo sitting on the floor and end it facing the back of the room.

~  
A camera crew followed Abby out of the interview room as we were practicing.  
"Your first character is Rapunzel. Imagine you are escaping the tower, and put that emotion into your dance. " Abby started playing the music and we began the combo. Amy, Kenzie, Kendall and Travis were eliminated on the first round. For the next one, we had to dance as Cinderella, and Tyler, Nia, and I were eliminated. I sat at the side of the room, watching the rest of the challenge. Jenna and Gino were eliminated during the Good Fairy round, and Kalani and Sophia were eliminated during the Bad Fairy round. That left Zack, Maddie and Autumn.  
"For this round, I want you to dance as if you are Prince Charming." When Abby said that, everyone knew that Zack would win the challenge, even with Abby's favouritism of Maddie.  
Autumn was eliminated for a sickled foot, and Maddie missed a turn.  
"Congratulations, Zack. You can choose which routine you do, and who is in it with you. The group dance is a musical theatre routine called "Fly Away". The first trio is an acro piece called "Don't Run", and the other trio is a contemporary ballet routine called "Not So Evil". One duet is a lyrical piece called "A Matter Of Love Or Death", and the other is a contemporary dance called "Take Me Back". Which do you choose, and who will be dancing with you?" Abby asked. Zack paused for a few seconds to decide, then looked at Abby again.  
"I choose the lyrical duet." He replied.  
"And have you chosen your duet partner?" Abby asked calmly.  
"Chloe." He answered, smiling at me across the room. I was glad that I had a lyrical routine, and Zack was a good dance partner - perhaps too good. I was a little bit worried about it, because he was seventeen, and a much better dancer than me.  
"The other duet will go to Gino and Maddie." Abby loved the duet that they did a few years ago on Dance Moms, and she'd been putting them in dances together whenever she could after that.  
"The acro trio, "Don't Run", will go to Mackenzie, Tyler, and Kendall. The contemporary ballet trio, "Not So Evil",  
is going to Amy, Nia and Travis. That leaves Jenna, Autumn, Sophia and Kalani with the musical theatre routine, "Fly Away". Rehearsals start in fifteen minutes - you can wait in your dorms, then I'll put a list on the notice board of which rehearsal is in which studio." Abby announced. I went back to the dorm and checked my phone to find a message from Paige.  
_Hey Chlobird! How are you doing in the competition? What's this week's theme? Do you know your dance yet? Sorry, too many questions. Paige xxx_

While we weren't allowed to announce that we were on the programme, we were allowed to tell a few people, and the first person I'd told was Paige.

_Did well last week but no eliminations then. Last week was turns, this week is fairytales. Got a duet with Zack this week called "A Matter Of Love Or Death" so sounds like Sleeping Beauty theme. Chlo xxx_

She replied almost immediately.  
?_ Sounds romantic. Who chose the dances?_

_Zack won the challenge so he chose the dance and partner and Abby chose the rest. Seems like she still thinks Mino is still a thing cause they got the other duet. _

I sent a few more texts then glanced at the time - we had nearly ten more minutes before rehearsals started, but I wanted to get there early to stretch and warm up . I walked down to the notice board and checked the list - our rehearsal was in Studio C - then went in and started stretching. Zack turned up five minutes later and started warming up before Gianna came in to start choreographing our duet.

**Don't judge a story by the number of reviews.**  
**Chloe xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Guys, I'm working my butt off to get as much of this written and posted before school starts (in two days) as I can, so if you're reading this, please review. It would be nice to know that people appreciate how much effort is going into this.**

"This duet is based on Sleeping Beauty. It will start with Chloe lying on the floor, and Zack will come on and do a short solo part before he wakes her..."

By the time rehearsal was over at 4, we'd been through the dance several times and I'd memorised all of the choreography. The music was nice, and it fitted the dance perfectly, though I'd never heard it before. I saw Maddie coming out of Studio B as I was walking back to the dorm, so I waited for her to catch up.

"How's your duet going?" I asked, sipping some water from my neon pink water bottle.

Maddie frowned. "I don't like it. It's way too romantic. Abby seems to think that Gino and I are really good together, just because our duets always get good scores and come first or second. But I haven't danced with Gino since last summer, and that duet came third. I think we're losing it, whatever's been helping us win for the last two years. What about yours?" She said as we started walking up the stairs to our dorm.

"At least you've danced with Gino before. I've never done a duet with Zack, and he's seventeen. He's so much better than me, and I think it's going to show when we perform it. The dance is nice though, and the music's perfect for it."

I explained as we went back into the dorm.

**_~Wednesday~_**

"That was great, technically, but it needs...it needs more emotion, more chemistry. " Gianna told us, checking her watch. "Okay, rehearsal's over. Be here at ten tomorrow." I walked out of the studio, grabbing my water bottle and phone from beside the door. I had a new message from Paige;

_How's the duet with Zack going? _

I sighed and sent a quick reply.

_Not good. Gianna says we need more emotion and chemistry._

When I got back to the dorm, I had another text.

_Group Message - sent to: Gino, Autumn, Nia, Chloe, Jenna._

_From: Zack_

_Anyone want to get something to eat at McDonalds? Meet by the front door at five._

I decided to go. The food in the cafeteria wasn't the best, and McDonald's would be a nice change. I chose a pale blue tank top, with Just Dance written on the front in sparkly letters, and a pair of white shorts from the small wardrobe beside my bed and got changed, then put on a pair of blue sandals and grabbed my phone and purse. I brushed my hair and put on some lipgloss, then headed down to the front door, where Jenna was already waiting.

"Hi, I'm Jenna." She said shyly. A lot of people were nervous when they met me, if they'd seen me at dance competitions, the studio, or on Dance Moms, and I hadn't had a chance to talk to Jenna yet. I tried to come up with something interesting to talk about, but all that popped into my mind was dance.

"You're doing the musical theatre routine this week, aren't you? Do you like it?" I asked, and Jenna nodded.

"It's cool. Two of us are good fairies, and two are bad fairies, and we each have a small solo part. I like it." She explained. "How's your duet with Zack going?"

I sighed and leaned back against the wall. "It's okay, I guess. The dance and music are good, but Gianna keeps saying we need more chemistry. And he's so much better than me. That's probably why he chose me as his partner - so he could show the judges how bad I am compared to him, and get me eliminated."

"Maybe not," Jenna said, "Maybe he has a crush on you." She suggested.

"Are you mad? He's seventeen. And anyway, he knows that we're here for dance, not romance." I told her as the boys walked down the stairs with Autumn.

We started walking down the road to McDonald's, Zack and Gino walking ahead while Autumn hung back with me and Jenna.

"I'm so glad that no one was eliminated last week, or I would have been gone by now!" Jenna said, flicking her long, black hair out of her eyes. "Kalani was so much worse than me, but she's one of Abby's favourites, so I have a feeling that her and Maddie are going to be in the last few dancers left. "

Autumn nodded. "Did you see how she praised Maddie last week? She picked on the tiniest thing everyone else did wrong, but Maddie got a glowing review. Thank God the other two judges don't have favourites."

I smiled. Finally, someone else understood how I'd always felt about Maddie. We were good friends, but it had always annoyed me that Abby never told her off for anything. And at the moment, she only really talked to me when there was no one else around. It was almost like she was embarrassed by me, or didn't want to talk to me unless she had to.

"And it's really not good for her, being Abby's favourite. That's all she's known since she was a little kid. If someone had been telling you that you were perfect all your life, you'd believe it. If Abby doesn't stop this, Maddie might never be tough enough to accept that she didn't get picked at an audition, or didn't win a competition." I told them. "On Season 7 of _Dance Moms_, there was a competition when she didn't place, and she was bawling. A thirteen year old was sitting on her mom's knee, crying her eyes out, and Abby didn't even use her signature phrase-" I was interrupted by Jenna and Autumn, who joined in with Abby's favourite saying - "_Save your tears for the pillow_."

I pushed open the door to McDonald's and followed the boys to the queue.

"Let's take the food to the beach to eat." Gino suggested, and all of us nodded. Jenna and I ordered a burger and a McFlurry each, and took them over to the beach across the road. I sat in the sand between Jenna and Autumn as we ate our burgers.

"We've got..." Autumn checked her watch as she put her empty McFlurry tub in the bin. "Three and a half hours before we have to be back."

Zack smiled. "That's plenty of time to have some fun."

**AN: Thanks for reading! I really appreciate reviews, so please let me know what you think of the story so far! After tomorrow, I probably won't be able to update every day because I'll be back at school, but I'll try to update at least once a week **?

**Chloe xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

"Come on, Chlo!" Jenna yelled. "It's not that cold!" She ran back onto the sand and grabbed my hand, dragging me into the sea with her. We stopped next to Autumn, who was standing where the water went a little above her knees.  
"So what do you want to do? I didn't come here to stand in knee-deep water." Autumn complained, just as an idea formed in my mind, and I leaned forward a little so that my hand was in the water.  
"This!" I said, at the same time as I flicked my hand up, splashing her in the face.  
She gasped. "Chloe Lukasiak, I am going to make you regret what you just did!" She stepped back until the water was reaching the bottom of her shorts, and put her hands under, cupping them together and chucking the water at me.  
"You know, Autie, Jenna hasn't been splashed yet." I pointed out, and Jenna started running. It's not easy to run through knee-deep water, and she definitely wasn't looking where she was going, which is probably why I noticed the large, slippery rock before she did.  
"Jenna! Don't-" I saw her foot hit the rock, sending her backwards, bum-first, into the water. Unfortunately, Jenna was right between me and Autumn, and grabbed us in an attempt to stop her falling, but all she succeeded in was dragging us down with her.  
"_Jenna_!" Autumn and I shrieked at the same time. That got the boys' attention from where they were sitting on the beach, and they started cracking up.  
"Thanks for that, Jenna. You're lucky I left my phone and purse on the beach!" All three of us were completely soaked now.  
"Come on, let's go and dry off on the beach. I don't want to sit here all evening." Jenna suggested. I stood up and walked back to the beach with her and Autumn, and sat down next to Zack.  
"Enjoy your trip?" He teased. I rolled my eyes.  
"Shut up. It was Jenna's fault, anyway." I said, giving her a pointed look.  
"Hey, you started it!" She protested.  
"But it was you who dragged me into the water-"  
"Whatever." She sighed dramatically.  
I lay back on the warm sand, taking a deep breath. It was the first time I'd been able to relax in the last two weeks, especially because the duet rehearsals had been really stressful, with Gianna bugging us about needing more emotions and chemistry all the time.

Abby was waiting by the doors when we went in. "I see you haven't been doing any extra practice this evening." She said, walking slowly towards Studio A. "You know, Maddie's been in there for the last three hours." She smiled smugly.  
I sighed and went upstairs. I'd bought some new clothes while we were in town, so I put them in my wardrobe then checked my phone.

_Paige: we're going to France this weekend and Mom says the place has no phone signal so good luck with your duet this weekend! I'm sure you'll do great xx_

~  
"Chloe, that jump needs to be higher! The turn section was a little too fast that time - don't rush through the moves. We're gonna have a five minute break, then start rehearsals again." I nodded, grabbing my phone and water bottle, then sat against the wall. I checked Snapchat first - I had a dozen from fans, which I ignored, because although I would have loved to reply, I really didn't have time. Kenzie and Kendall's snapchat stories were about two hundred seconds long, so I didn't bother watching them, but I did have a new one from Jenna. A black screen popped up, and the text across the middle read "_Any action with Zack yet?_", with a heart emoji. That girl was never going to give up on the idea of me and Zack being together. I glanced across the room at Zack, who was listening to music on his iPod. He was kind of hot, I supposed, but, like I told Jenna, I was there for dance, not romance. Anyway, we were just doing a duet together - it wasn't like he actually had a crush on me or anything. Unless Jenna had been right, but I highly doubted that.  
"Okay, we'll run the dance once more, but then you're wanted for interviews." Gianna told us. I moved into my starting position and waited for the music to begin. Zack did his solo part for the first twelve counts, then did a side ariel over me and I stood up to start dancing.

I sat down in one of the interview room. The first question was the one that I'd been expecting - "How do you feel about your duet with Zack?"  
I sighed. "It's good. I mean, the dance and the music go together really well, and Zack's a good dance partner. I'm kind of worried that he might out-dance me on stage though, because he's an amazing dancer." I told them. They asked a few more questions, then I went back up to my dorm.

**AN: This chapter's a bit shorter than the others but I wanted to do the competition as a new chapter. Please let me know what you think so far, and any ideas you have for future chapters. Chloe xxx**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:Competition chapter! Also, apparently no one has read the last chapter. You're lucky that I like writing this so much, 'cause if I didn't, I would have given up by now. **

I sat in front of my mirror in the dressing room and started getting ready. I brushed my hair and curled it a little, so that it was wavy, then tied it in a loose plait. I put on some sparkly eyeshadow, dark eyeliner and pale lipstick, then went to the costume rack to get my costume. It was a floaty pink dress that almost reached my knees, with a flowery pink headband.  
I got changed, then looked at the other costumes. Zack and Gino's were the same, and Maddie's was a short Snow White themed dress, similar to the one used in her solo 'Reflections'. The costumes for 'Fly Away' were sparkly dresses, two pink and two green, and each of the girls had a magic wand of dance with. 'Don't Run' was clearly supposed to be about Alice In Wonderland, with an Alice dress, a Mad Hatter costume and a Mad Hatter style dress. The costumes for 'Not So Evil' were beautiful - a prince outfit, similar to Zack's, and two long, floaty dresses, one white and one black. I took a photo of my costume and posted it on Instagram, with the caption '_Beautiful dress for this duet! You'll find out what the project is in a couple of weeks xx_'.

Gianna walked in and told us the order of the dances just before the first group needed to go on.  
"Fly Away is performing now - go! Then it's Take Me Back, followed by Don't Run, then A Matter Of Love Or Death, and finally, Not So Evil."  
I stood in the wings and started stretching as I watched the first dance. It looked good from where I was standing, though Kalani missed a turn at the end. Abby didn't mention it in her critique, but the other judges did. I hugged Jenna as she came off stage. "You were really good out there. What did the judges say?" I asked, and she smiled.  
"Abby said I didn't have enough emotion, but the other two said I was great so I don't think I'm going home tonight."  
"That's really good. I'm so nervous for our duet though. Gianna's been saying all week that we need more emotion and chemistry. " I admitted. I was really worried about messing it up, especially since Zack was so much better than me.  
"Just relax and let the music take over. Anyway, you're so not leaving this week. I mean, technically you're pretty much perfect, and there are some dancers here that are so much worse. You'll be fine."

I nodded as she went into the green room to watch the rest of the dances, and turned my attention to the duet on stage. Maddie and Gino danced well together, but as she'd told me earlier that week, the chemistry between them just seemed to be disappearing.

**_Maddie_**  
The dance was going well until my front ariel. Gino was lying on the stage, and the ariel was fine, but then my mind went blank. I couldn't remember what came between the ariel and the partner work with Gino. I couldn't do this, I hadn't done this since I was ten. I paused for half a second, then decided to improv for the next twelve counts, before I leaped into Gino's arms for the start of the partner work. Hopefully, none of the judges had noticed it...

**_Chloe_**  
I watched helplessly as Maddie froze on stage. She kept dancing after a very short pause, but I wasn't sure if she'd remembered the next twelve counts, or decided to improv. Maddie and Gino left the stage at the other side, and I watched Mackenzie, Kendall and Tyler walk onto the stage. Kenzie started the routine with an ariel, and Kendall followed, then Tyler. I watched the first half of the routine before I started getting nervous about the duet. _What if I forgot it, like Maddie did? Or I didn't dance as well as Zack, and I got eliminated? _  
Jenna joined me in the wings a minute later.  
"Chloe, you'll be fine. You're an amazing dancer, but you worry too much!" She told me.  
"I don't know. What if I mess up?"  
I heard a voice from behind me. "You won't." Zack said, slipping his hand into mine. "Ready?" He asked as the judges finished giving their critiques. I nodded. We walked onto the stage while the lights were dimmed, and got into our starting positions. I let the music take over as I danced, but my mind was on other things. '_Why did Zack hold my hand before we went on? Was he just being friendly, and supportive, or was it something more? Had Jenna been right when she teased me about Zack having a crush on me_?' I thought as the music started to come to the end, and I fell back into my final position in Zack's arms. Then everything seemed to slow down, as his brown eyes locked with mine and he leaned forward to kiss me.

**AN: How's that for a cliffhanger? It's not quite 1k words but I wanted to split the chapter here and make you wait to find out what happens next...**  
**Chloe xxx**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I want to thank you so much for reading. I'm doing chapter dedications now, and this chapter is dedicated to ****_Chlobirdlover_**** on Wattpad for being the biggest fan of this story so far. I really appreciate reviews, and they encourage me to keep writing. I'm going to shut up now because I know most people don't like long author's notes.**

My thoughts were a mess as we stood in front of the judges. _Did Zack really like me, or was it all for show? _I couldn't keep thinking about that though, not when Abby was ready to point out all of my flaws and mistakes.

"Both of you were technically flawless in that duet. Your emotions and characterisation were amazing. Honestly, I don't think you could have danced any better tonight."

For once, the other two judges agreed with Abby's opinion. I smiled and thanked them before I walked back to the green room. The dance on the screen wasn't live, because the producers wanted the dancers to watch their own performance before they went into the interview room, so our duet was just starting when we got in. I sat next to Jenna on one of the long sofas.

"How did it go?" She asked, and I smiled.

"It was amazing."

"How amazing?"

"Abby loved it." I told her as she pulled me into a hug. It was only then that I realised how embarrassing it would be if I was still in there when Zack and I kissed on screen. I slipped out to the toilets as the dance started to come to an end, waiting until one of the producers shouted that I was needed in the interview room.

"So was that kiss at the end of the duet choreographed, or not?" I knew they were going to ask that. The interviewers could be so predictable.

"Um...no. No, it wasn't choreographed." I replied. They kept pushing me for details though, like who decided to do it, had we discussed it before we went on stage - they even asked what it was like.

"It was...a new experience. It was my first kiss that wasn't just for a dance, or a show, you know?" I didn't want to say any more than that. I already knew that the producers could edit it and twist your words, like they had on _Dance Moms_. If I said that I could definitely beat a dancer from Cathy's studio, they would switch the audio, so it would sound like "I'll definitely beat Maddie this week."

"Elimination time." Abby announced as we lined up on the stage. I knew that I almost definitely wasn't going home that week, but I was still nervous when she called my name first.

"Chloe, Zack, Sophia, Amy, and Autumn. Please step forward." Despite the fact that I was nearly certain we had one of the best performances of the night, I still reached for Zack's hand, at the same time as he reached for mine.

"Congratulations. You had the best performances tonight. Go and sit in the audience with your parents."

Everyone clapped as we walked off stage. I sat between Clara and Mom, since Dad had been busy with work again, then turned my attention back to the stage.

"Kalani, Tyler, Travis and Kendall, please step forward. Back row - you are safe, go and sit in the audience."

Gino, Jenna, Nia, Maddie and Mackenzie left the stage, and Abby turned to the four remaining contestants.

"Kalani. You missed a turn, but you kept going, and acted like it never happened." The other two judges nodded.

"You made a mistake, but it wasn't particularly noticeable." Alexa added.

"You're very good at covering up your mistakes, but the real skill lies in not making the mistakes in the first place." Abby confirmed.

Kalani nodded meekly as the judges moved on to Travis.

"Travis, you didn't dance well today. Like your brother, you were dancing in a style that wasn't your strong point. You didn't have enough ballet training before you came, but there wasn't anything else you could do this week. The same goes for your brother." Abby explained.

"You both did as well as you could, it just wasn't your strength. There was nothing more that you could have done."

The twins nodded as the judges moved on to Kendall.

"Kendall, you just weren't as good as you could have been. Your leaps weren't as high as they could have been, and it didn't seem like you were putting all of your effort and emotion into it." Abby told her, and Richie nodded.

"You didn't give us your best today. You could have put so much more into that routine! But everyone has bad days sometimes." He added.

"With that said...Tyler, today is _not_ your day."

**AN: Back to school tomorrow, so I won't be updating as much. I will update at least once a week, unless something happens, in which case I'll post an author's note instead of a chapter, then I'll delete it when I post the next chapter. I don't have an update schedule - I write when I feel like it, and I post when I'm finished. Thanks so much for reading, Chloe xxx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chloe**

"What's up with _her_?" Jenna whispered as we waited for the producers to tell us when go in for the group challenge. I glanced at Maddie, who was sitting on the other side of the room. She'd been moody all morning. I shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe she's just having a bad morning." I suggested. Jenna opened her mouth to reply, but Abby walked in before she could say anything.

"Come on, dancers! Get on the stage!" She yelled. It seemed like Maddie wasn't the only one in a bad mood. We lined up in the challenge room, waiting for Abby to tell us about the group challenge.

"This week, your group challenge will ,be based on flexibility. The winner will choose who does which routine. You won't be taught a combo for this challenge - I will tell you a move to do, and whoever does it worst will be eliminated, until one person is left. You have five minutes to warm up." I sighed as I slid into my left split. Although I'd worked on improving my flexibility over the last two years, it still didn't come easily to me, and I knew that I had no chance of winning. It would probably be Kenzie, or Sophia, or maybe Zack.

"Get up and stand in the centre of the room, with plenty of space between you and the nearest person. " Abby instructed, then started shouting the moves we had to do. Amy was out first, when she didn't go into over splits during her tilt, followed by Jenna, Gino and Travis, who all slipped during their side ariels. Autumn and I were eliminated for coming down early from the chin stand, and Nia and Kendall bobbled on their split turns. That left Maddie, Mackenzie, Zack, Kalani, and Sophia. Abby told them to go into their tilts again, and Maddie and Zack were eliminated for being the least flexible. Then Abby decided to change it a little.

"I'm going to have Gianna teach you a short section from Maddie's old solo, Cry, then a section from Mackenzie's old solo, Take It To Go. It's one thing being able to do the tricks, but you need to be able to perform them." She announced. "If you've been eliminated, go to your dorms, and someone will come to get you when the winner has decided on the routines."

Fifteen minutes later, we were called back to the challenge room to find out who was doing which routine.

"Congratulations to Mackenzie, who won the group challenge." We all clapped politely as Kenzie smiled brightly from her position next to Abby. "Mackenzie, have you decided who is doing each routine yet?"

Kenzie glanced down at the sheet of paper in her hands.

"The contemporary duet, _Friends Again_, will be performed by Chloe and Maddie. The jazz trio, _Don't Stop_, will go to Travis, Gino, and Amy. The lyrical group dance, _Guardian Angels_, is going to Zack, Jenna, Sophia, Kalani, and Autumn. The acro trio will be performed by me, Kendall and Nia." She told us. I was glad to have a contemporary routine, but I wished I had a different duet partner. I hardly ever talked to Maddie now. She was always with Kendall and Nia, and I hung out with Jenna and Autumn, and occasionally Amy.

"Chloe, Maddie - Gianna is choreographing your duet, rehearsals are in Studio B." I nodded and followed Maddie to the studio, where we warmed up while Gianna got the music.

"At the start of the duet, you're at opposite corners of the stage. It's about two girls who have fallen out, then realise how much better it was when they were friends..."

By the time rehearsal finished at four, we'd pretty much nailed most of the choreography, but the turn section in the middle, followed by a side ariel and a cartwheel, still needed work. I grabbed my water bottle and headed for the small dancers' den that was shared by Studio A & B, then took my dance bag into the bathroom to change into my normal clothes. I'd picked a white tank top and pale pink sweater, a pair of jeans and my white ugg boots from my wardrobe that morning, because despite it being summer, it was colder than usual that day. I shoved my dance clothes into my bag and started to leave, but paused when I heard voices from the dancers' den.

"Bye guys!" I heard Kenzie shout as she headed up to the dorms.

"I wish Kenzie didn't win the challenge this morning. I hate this duet with Chloe." Maddie complained."It's meant to be about friendship, but we don't even talk anymore. She was _super_-annoying on the first week here though, and she was acting like we were best friends."

I bit my lip. _Was that really what Maddie thought of me?_

"Oh my god, I know. From what you said, she sounded like _such_ a spoilsport at the party. I'm sorry about that, by the way. Abby practically dragged me out of the dorm and asked me where everyone else was, and I didn't know what to do. I really did try to lead her off the trail, but thank god you got back when you did." Kendall added. That didn't sound right. When we got back from the party, she was telling Abby everything she knew - how everyone else had gone to the beach, and they weren't planning on getting back until late.

"I'm so glad she hangs out with Autumn and Jenna now. We haven't been friends since we were little ten and eleven year olds. I think she was just lonely that first week, cause she had like no friends here." Nia confessed.

How could I leave now? If I walked into the dancers' den, they would know that I had heard everything they said about me. Then I spotted the fire exit, and headed for that instead. Fortunately, there were no cameras by the bathroom, so I slipped out of the large doors. They led to the grassy bank outside the building, so I walked down to the grass outside the front door, just as Sophia and Amy were leaving.

"What are you doing out here? Didn't rehearsals just finish?" Sophia asked suspiciously.

"I...I wanted to check out the garden." I lied. I had a feeling that the truth would sound a lot worse. There actually was a garden at the back of the building, but I hadn't been there yet.

I walked past them and went up to the dorm, where Maddie, Kenzie and Kendall were lying on their beds.

"Hey, Mads, let's go and talk to Nia." Kendall suggested as I walked in. I dropped my dance bag on the floor and got my phone out of my bag. I had a new message from Paige : _hows competition life in Cali? Hope ur having fun._

I sighed and told her what I had overheard the others saying in the dancers' den. A reply popped up almost immediately.

_Only a few more weeks b4 at least 1 of them will b out tho_

I smiled. Hopefully Paige was right, and Kendall and Nia wouldn't make it too much further. I knew Maddie and Kalani, being Abby's favourites, would probably make it quite far, but I thought that Travis would probably be out soon.

**Just sorting out the formatting issues. I have no idea what happened, but it's all being sorted now.**


	10. Chapter 10

~ _Sunday, 1.30pm_ ~

"Good, higher...that's great, Maddie! You both need more emotion though. The dance has to tell a story."

Gianna told us, sighing as she checked her watch.

"Okay girls, you need to start getting ready for the competition. Go through to the dressing room, the costumes should be last on the rack." I took my water bottle and phone from where I'd left them by the wall, then headed into the dressing room. I quickly brushed my hair and put it in a tight bun before I started doing my makeup, which was so natural that you almost couldn't tell I was wearing it. I changed into my costume, a beautiful yellow dress, while Maddie wore a pink one, and walked into the wings to start warming up. I watched Zack's dance from the side of the stage, and it looked amazing. I didn't see him make a single mistake, but Abby pointed out that he was slightly late going into the last ariel.

Zack walked into the wings and hugged me as I stood up from my splits, ready to go on and perform my dance. I flashed him a bright smile as I walked on and sat in my starting position at the front of the stage. The music started and I jumped up, doing a front ariel to the centre of the stage. For the first half of the dance, I mirrored Maddie, facing away from her. As the music slowed in the middle of the routine, I started chasing Maddie as we danced, then she did the same to me. As the music faded out, I slid to the floor, lying in front of Maddie as she rolled down from her turns to sit near me. We stood up in front of the judges as someone passed us microphones.  
"Chloe, you were pretty good tonight. But Maddie was stunning. It was like you were in rehearsal, and Maddie was performing. I didn't see a single thing wrong with your technique, but you need to bring more energy to the dance." Abby told us. Richie mentioned the chemistry not really being there, like Gianna kept reminding us in rehearsal. I nodded silently as Alexa added her opinion, then walked off stage.  
I met Zack in the wings, hugging him as we walked back into the green room. I sat between him and Jenna on the sofa as the live footage of the next dance flashed up on the screen in front of us.

"Dancers - Abby wants all of you on stage for eliminations, hurry up!" Gianna yelled as we left the green room. We lined up along the centre of the stage as Abby glanced at the photos laid out on the judges' table.  
"Chloe, Jenna, Sophia, Gino, Amy. Step forward." We followed her instructions, and I glanced back at Zack. She normally announced the best performances first, but I couldn't have been one of the best.  
"You all danced well today. You're safe, go and sit with your parents." I walked off the stage quickly, taking a seat next to Clara. She jumped on to my lap, smiling brightly as Abby continued. "Zack, Kalani, Maddie, Mackenzie and Kendall, please step forward. You were the best dancers tonight. Go and sit in the audience with your parents." That left Nia, Travis and Autumn in the final three. "I'm going to mix things up a bit this week. There will be a double elimination." Autumn gasped, and Travis glanced nervously at his mom and brother.  
"Autumn. Today...is your lucky day. Nia, Travis - go and pack your bags, you're going home. Save those years for the pillow." All three of them rushed off the stage to their parents.  
"You have ten minutes, then you have to be in your dorms or the common room. " Gianna reminded us. Clara bounced happily on my knee as I talked to Mom.  
**Mackenzie**  
"Maddie, I'm so proud of you! Abby said you were one of the best dancers tonight!"  
I sighed as Mom praised Maddie. "I was one of the best dancers too!" I pointed out. "And Maddie bobbled on one of her turns."

"I did not!" Maddie argued.

"Girls, stop it. We only have ten minutes , your sister didn't bobble on any of her turns. She was flawless tonight, and so were you."

**Chloe**

"Good luck for next week." Mom said as I left the room. I walked up to the dorm and changed out of my costume, then washed off my make-up and checked my phone before I went to bed.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Sorting formatting issues so you can actually read it now :)**

**Chloe**

"Today's challenge is all about...technique. You will be taught the combo by Gianna, then you will perform it until everyone is eliminated. You have 45 minutes...starting now!" Abby announced, then walked into the interview room with a small camera crew as we started learning the combo.

"Mackenzie, you're gone."

"Gino."

"Kendall."

"Jenna."

"Autumn."

"Amy."

"Zack."

"Kalani."

Abby yelled the eliminated dancers' names as we performed the combo over and over, until just me, Sophia and Maddie were left.

"Let's change this a little. You were taught the dance on your _right_, but now you'll perform it on your _left_." I sighed as we stood in the starting position, waiting for Gianna to play the music. Abby _knew_ I was worse on my left. I was eliminated first, and Sophia was out a few seconds after me.

"Maddie, your prize is that you get immunity - you will not be eliminated this week - and you can save _one_ person from the final four. This week's dances are; a lyrical duet, for Chloe and Zack. A contemporary duet for Maddie and Gino. An acro trio for Amy, Jenna and Autumn, and a jazz group dance for Kalani, Kendall, Mackenzie and Sophia."

"Good, we've made a lot of progress for the first day! You need to use your _emotion_ a bit more - there's plenty of chemistry, but you really need to listen to the lyrics and act out what's happening in the song - but we can work on that tomorrow." Alexa told us as we stood up from our final positions and I grabbed my phone and water bottle from the side of the room. There were a few difficult lifts and turn sequences in the routine, but the music was beautiful. If we'd performed this dance as well as we could, it would _definitely_ have been a winning duet.

**Sophia**

I flicked through my Instagram feed on my iPhone as I stretched. Jazz _definitely_ wasn't my best style, and I knew that Maddie wouldn't save me if I was in the final four. I wasn't good friends with her, and I wouldn't be the worst dancer on that stage, so it wouldn't make any sense for her to save me instead of someone that she could easily beat in the next round. I switched to my Instagram 'explore' page, scrolling down until one photo caught my eye.

I tapped it to look more closely. The caption read 'Fact 108 - Chloe kissed Paige's boyfriend, Luke, at Paige's birthday party. oh my god guys, how could Chloe do that to her twinnie? I wouldn't believe it if the photo wasn't good enough proof...' I looked at the photo again. Some guy, presumably Luke, was practically making out with Chloe in Paige's kitchen. I saved the photo to my camera roll, then put my phone away as Richie came in to start choreographing the dance. Maybe there were some people I couldn't out-dance in this competition, but there were other ways to win...


	12. Chapter 12

**_Friday, 2pm_**

**Sophia**

"Take 5 minutes to get some water, and cool down a little before we run through the dance again." Richie instructed. I unlocked my phone as we went into the changing rooms, slipping into the girls' toilets so no one would see what I was doing. I logged out of my official instagram account and in to my new one, . It was a 'fan' account for Dance Moms which I'd made that morning, so I had written 'keep sending in dance moms secrets and omg moments please! Lily xx' in each caption. I tapped the 'New Direct Message' button and selected the photo of Chloe kissing Paige's boyfriend, zooming in so Paige might open my DM to see if it was true. I typed 'oh my god paige, I can't believe your twinnie would do this to you! I guess you can't trust everyone...' before I sent it, then posted the picture on my new account, with the same caption but as many hashtags as instagram would let me use in one post. I had to make people see this - my plan wouldn't work unless the photo went viral in the next two hours, before Chloe left rehearsal.

"Sophia! Richie wants to start again..." I sighed and slid my phone into my bag as I walked through the empty changing rooms. I'd have to wait until later to see what would happen, but if my plan worked out, my revenge for all of the times that Chloe had beaten me at competitions would be very sweet indeed...

**_3.15pm_**

**Paige**

I checked my phone and found a ton of Instagram notifications - a lot more than I usually got from Dance Moms fans and other dancers.

I tapped the notifications button and found that all of the comments - all of the ones that I saw, anyway - were about the same thing.

'I feel so sorry for you paigey - I know I'd feel awful if my twinnie did something like that...'

'The photo looks so real but I know it's fake, Chloe would never do that, I met her once and she was so sweet...'

'It's probably a different boy...'

I tagged the last few commenters in a new comment and asked what was going on. The first reply came almost instantly - 'check out 's page, she found a pic that you should really see...' I tapped the link to that person's page and looked at their most recent post. It was a photo of Chloe, wearing the sparkly blue dress that she'd worn to my birthday party, and my boyfriend Luke...kissing. I looked more closely, for any sign that it was fake - if the photo was too blurry to tell who it really was, or it had been edited, but it was real. Whoever took it was stood beside them, so you could see both of their faces, and they must have had a better camera than their phone, because it was a pretty high quality photo.

I called Luke first - he was number four on my speed dial, and I figured that Chloe would still be in dance practice.

"What's up, beautiful?" He sounded so happy, and my heart ached a little as I thought about what I had to do.

"We need to talk." I said, then realized that it sounded like I was about to break up with him. "I'm not- I mean, I've just seen...there's this photo from my birthday party last year, and I don't know who took it, but..." I trailed off, blinking tears back. I wanted- _needed_ him and Chloe that it didn't happen, that someone had edited it or done a face swap, or _something_, _anything_, that wasn't this.

"But what?" He asked. I glanced at the photo, now zoomed in on my iPad, before I answered.

"Luke, there's this photo from my birthday party of you kissing Chloe." He was silent. "Just tell me the truth. Tell me why." I managed to say before I dissolved into tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't- I wasn't thinking straight. You were hanging out with the rest of your friends, and we'd been arguing about something stupid earlier but you were barely talking to me, and...God, Paige, I'm sorry. Nothing else happened, you know, I just- I'm sorry."

"How could you?" Tears were streaming down my cheeks. "And with my best friend! What the hell were you thinking?" I yelled, even though I knew that Brooke, and probably Josh, would be listening.

"Paige, I'm sorry...I just-"

"Why?" I asked, wiping some of the tears from my cheeks. "There were plenty of other people there, so why _Chloe_? I mean, I know she's beautiful, but _Jesus_, Luke, she's my best friend and you knew it!"

"You weren't there, and she was, and I wasn't-" I sighed.

"-you weren't thinking straight, like you said. Well, maybe _I'm_ not thinking straight right now, but I say we're _done._ Over. Broken up." I told him.

"Paige, you don't have to do this-"

"I do. I _can't_ be with you, knowing that all that time, after you kissed Chloe, you were thinking about her, whenever we were together-"

"You _know_ it wasn't like that. Please, Paige, you don't want this!" He yelled. I winced, moving the phone away from my ear.

"Maybe I don't." Another tear slipped down my cheek. "But sometimes, Luke, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do." I hung up, threw my phone onto my bed and cried. Brooke tried to come in but I'd locked the door, and shouted at her to go away. I grabbed my phone again and dialled Chloe's number, hoping that she might be finished with her rehearsal by now...


	13. Chapter 13

**_Warning_**** ; one swear word in this chapter. It just didn't feel right to not put it in.**  
_Friday, 4pm_  
**_Chloe_**  
My phone started ringing while I was in the den, blaring 'Girls Run The World' - the ringtone that I'd set for Paige - across the den. I grabbed it from my bag and unlocked it, then pressed the green button.  
"Hi! What's up?" I switched it to speaker phone, lying it on the bench while I pulled a loose t-shirt and jeans on over my dance wear and switched into my uggs.  
"We need to talk." She sounded like she'd been crying.  
"What's wrong?" I asked, switching speaker phone off and sitting on the bench.  
"Why is there a photo of you and Luke kissing at my birthday party?" She asked.  
"I...Paige, I'm sorry, I never meant for that to happen...he just-" I tried to explain.  
"Chlo, if he made a move on you...you know you could have told me, right?" I blinked back tears. I wished that was what had happened. Zack looked across the changing room at me, raising his eyebrows in confusion.  
"He-I mean, that's not what happened, he didn't...it wasn't _all_ him..."  
"Please tell me you're kidding." Paige sounded dangerously close to tears. "How could you? We'd been dating for a year, Chlo! How could you just ruin that?" she yelled.  
"I swear, I never meant for it to happen. We were just _talking_, Paige, then I was up against the wall and he was kissing me-."  
"Stop giving me this bullshit, Chlo. You knew what you were doing. You _knew_, and you didn't stop him!"  
"I don't know what you're talking about! We didn't _plan_ this!"  
"Then why didn't you tell me? You could have told me, said sorry, and I would've-"  
"-you would've broken up with him, that's why. You and Luke, you're perfect together. I didn't-I _don't_ want you two to break up because of _one_ stupid mistake." I interrupted.  
"Too late." Paige said, immediately hanging up. I sighed, letting my head fall into my hands as tears pricked my eyes.  
"Want to tell me what that was about?" Zack asked quietly, sitting next to me and putting an arm around my shoulders.  
"I kissed Paige's boyfriend at her birthday party. I mean, he kissed me, but I kissed him back and it shouldn't have happened, it's all my fault-" He pulled me into a hug as I wiped the tears from my cheeks.  
"Hey, shhh...it's not your fault. Well, maybe a little bit, but it was a mistake, right? Everyone makes them. She's your best friend, she should have forgiven you and moved on. But you were just trying to do the right thing - it _wasn't_ your fault, okay?" He told me as I leaned against him, sliding my phone into my pocket. "It's going to be alright."  
**AN: thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think and any ideas you have of what to include in the story or what you want to happen next...**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sophia**

I glanced across the room as I collected my costume, a sparkly red, blue and white crop top and booty shorts. Chloe was looking at her phone again, probably texting Paige, and Maddie was already in her costume and stretching. I had pulled my hair into a long side braid for the dance, like Kalani, Kendall and Mackenzie had, and clipped a hair bow that matched my costume on the side. I changed into my costume and slid into the splits, checking my phone as I stretched. Gianna announced that Chloe and Zack were dancing first then left the room as I started to run through the dance.

**Jenna**

I glanced nervously at the screen. Chloe and Zack were about to go onstage, and we had only run through the trio once. What if I was in the final four this week? Maddie definitely wouldn't save someone she didn't know. Chloe and Zack's duets were amazing and always won the judges over, with their amazing technique and chemistry, and everyone knew that the group dance would be great. A jazz routine to _Shake It Off_ - what could go wrong?

I tried to relax as Chloe stood in her starting position on the stage. She danced with passion and chemistry...almost as if she was the character in the song. Zack's critiques were almost perfect, like always, then Richie commented on Chloe's dancing.

"Girl, you were on fire today. I could see that passion for dancing, and the chemistry between you two was amazing, but I did notice a lack of technique today, especially for such a technical dancer."

"I totally agree. Chloe, you were stunning but you have to be technical if you want to win." Alexa added, turning to Abby.

"I don't even know what I saw on that stage. Sickled feet, bobbling on turns - you learned this when you were three or four or five, at my studio, and all that technique work has gone down the drain! You were a hot mess. I guess this is what happens when you leave the ALDC, because you're ten times worse than you were two years ago! What I watched on that stage was a talentless, stupid dancer, failing to keep up with her duet partner. I don't know why I agreed to choose you for this competition." Abby started to yell. Chloe nodded meekly as she walked into the wings, and I suddenly remembered that our dance was next. I slid a bobby pin into my hair and rushed to the edge of the stage, waiting nervously as the stage was cleaned. They always did that between performances, or someone could slip on a loose bead or earring that had fallen while the previous dancer was on.

I glanced back at Chloe, who was fiddling with the top of her water bottle. The stage went dark and I got ready to step on.

**Chloe**

I watched from the wings as Jenna got ready to step out on to the stage. The space around us was suddenly full of people as Amy, Autumn and Jenna got ready to dance. Two camera crews walked in from the dressing room - one would film the dance from the edge of the stage, while the other hoped to capture any drama that unfolded backstage.

I could hardly breathe as I thought about what Abby had said, and it felt like the room was shrinking around me.

"You okay, Chlo?" Zack asked.

_"...all that technique work has gone down the drain..."_

I shook my head. "I need to get out of here..."

_":..ten times worse than you were two years ago!"_

Zack put his arm around my shoulder, guiding me past a camera crew and out of the fire exit behind them.

_"...talentless, stupid dancer..."_

I leaned back against the cool wall, sliding down until I was sitting on the grass.

_"...failing to keep up with her duet partner..."_

Zack crouched beside me, one hand on my shoulder.

_"...you will never be as good as Maddie..."_

"Do you want me to get your mom?" he asked. I shook my head.

_"...you might as well give up already!"_

"Stay," I managed to say, reaching for his hand as it slipped into mine.

"Should I get your inhaler?"

"No...it's not my asthma."

"Panic attack?" He guessed, and I nodded.

**Maddie**

"Everyone needs to get to the stage for eliminations!" Gianna yelled, and we hurried into the wings. Chloe and Zack finally appeared - they had been '_missing_' since their dance - and we stepped onto the stage.

"Maddie. You had the single best performance of tonight, but I need you stay on the stage for now, so step back." Abby announced. I smiled brightly, standing behind the row of dancers. Abby sent half of the others to sit with their families for good performances and a few more after that, until just Chloe, Kendall and Gino were left.

"Maddie. There are 3 dancers left - I know who I would save, but it's up to you this week. Who will it be?"

I had to think carefully. Gino was out of the question, because if he left, Abby would _finally_ stop giving us awful romantic duets.

Kendall was my friend, and she obviously expected me to save her. She smiled at me, her blue eyes suspiciously dry for someone who usually cried so much. I nearly saved her, honestly. But then I thought about how I could use this to my advantage. I had to eliminate the best dancers...and Kendall was definitely one of those.

After this week's performance, Chloe was my obvious choice to save. The worst dancer of the week, the crybaby of the girls, was _no_ competition for me.

"I am saving...Chloe." Chloe ran to her mom in the audience. Kendall gasped, running towards me instead. She stopped about a metre away.

"How _could_ you? How could you wreck my dream? You _knew_ how much I wanted this, Mads. I _needed_ this." She started crying as she turned away, muttering something about fake friends. You have _no idea_ how hard it was to stop myself running after her, to stop myself telling Abby that I had made a mistake, but I couldn't. I _had to_ be professional in front of the cameras, and I had to think competitively, or I would _never_ win. Like Miss Abby told me once, it was lonely at the top.  
**AN: you might have noticed that Abby didn't tell Chloe that she would never be as good as Maddie and she might as well give up already, but I did that on purpose...it would be nice to get some more reviews :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sunday, 10pm**  
**Paige**  
_2 new messages_  
I opened Facebook on my laptop and checked my messages. I had one from Luke and one from Chloe, but I ignored those. As if I was going to forgive them for that any time soon. I did miss Chloe though. She'd called me every night for months, and we would just talk about everything that had happened that day...  
This was the first week she hadn't called or texted me after the competition to say how she did.  
2 notifications popped up.  
**_Chloe Lukasiak_**_updated her profile: In A Relationship With _**_Zack Torres._**  
**_Zack Torres_**_updated his profile: In A Relationship With _**_Chloe Lukasiak_**_._  
She was with Zack now? That was a surprise, but maybe I could use it to my advantage.  
_Zack Torres • online_  
_Paige_: How did Chloe do at competition tonight?  
_Zack_: Why don't you ask her yourself?  
_Paige_: I'm still mad at her.  
_Zack_: it wasn't great  
_Paige_: what? She's an amazing dancer.  
_Zack_: maybe cos she was a bit distracted by friend problems, or might have been something to do with the panic attack she had when she came off stage.  
_Paige_: did she get eliminated?  
_Zack_: no. Maddie saved her from the final three.  
I closed the chat. I knew Chloe had panic attacks sometimes, but she hadn't had one for months. And if what Zack said was right, maybe it was me that was distracting her. I couldn't keep distracting her with this. Really, it was me and Luke who had to sort this out.  
_Chloe Lukasiak • online_  
_Paige_: I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken it out on you.  
_Paige_: I was mostly mad at Luke. I'm sorry.  
_Paige_: Zack told me what happened.  
_Paige_: Chlo?  
I watched the green light beside her name switch off. _Offline_.  
**Chloe**  
I closed Facebook and leaned back, resting my head on the cool wall.  
"She said she was sorry." Zack pointed out, sliding his hand into mine.  
"I know. It's just...nearly everything that went wrong today is her fault, really, and...I'm not sure if I can forgive her for that."  
**Monday, 1 PM**  
**Maddie**  
I sighed as I dropped my tray onto a table with Sophia, Kalani and Amy. I was already in a bad mood after Chloe had won the improv, which was this week's challenge, and chosen the only solo, leaving me a duet with Mackenzie. I hated working with my sister. She was annoying, bratty, and ever since Superstar became her fifth song to get to number one on the iTunes chart, demanding.  
"What's rattled your cage?" Kalani muttered.  
"My duet with Kenz. She is so annoying, and it's not like she'll even be able to keep up with me." I explained, picking up my bar of chocolate.  
**4PM**  
**Chloe**  
"Good, that's a great start. We'll work on it some more tomorrow," Alexa told me. I picked up my phone and walked through the den, into the toilets. I stepped inside a stall to get changed - I didn't feel comfortable changing in the dancers den, where anyone could walk in and see. I was just switching my dance shoes for a pair of sandals when I heard two people walk in.  
"Oh my god. I guess you never know who your friends really are." A voice - Sophia's, I decided - said.  
"And everyone knows that I'm a way better dancer than her. It's true. But every time Miss Abby put us against each other with the same solo, she won. And I know for a fact that one of her wins was staged. The judge must have known her mom or something, cause she got a higher technique score than Kamryn and Kamryn was amazing."  
I sighed silently. Of course, now that Kendall and Nia had left, Maddie just had to have someone else to bitch about me with her.  
"And she is so fake. She pretends she's nice, but did you hear about what she did to Paige? They were best friends." The sound of Sophia's voice faded as she and Maddie left.  
I thought of the music that I would be performing my solo to on Sunday.  
_Do you have to make me feel like there's nothing left of me?_  
_You can take everything I have,_  
_You can break everything I am,_  
_Like I'm made of glass,_  
_Like I'm made of paper..._  
**AN: shorter chapter and this week's competition is probably going to be the chapter after this. Does anyone know the song that Chloe's going to be dancing to?**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thursday,5PM**  
**Paige**  
_1 new message _  
I clicked on my messages and found another from Chloe.  
_Chloe_: I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed Luke.  
_Paige_: I shouldn't have taken it out on you.  
_Chloe_: you kinda had a right to :)  
_Paige_: but if I made you do badly...  
_Chloe_: I'm still here, aren't I?  
I smiled. Finally, we could be best friends again.  
**Maddie**  
"Stop it! We're here to _practise_, not mess around." I told Mackenzie as she ran around the studio in a flowing skirt and pink wig. I grabbed the wig from her head as she swerved around me.  
"Hey, that's _mine!_" She yelled, stopping in front of me. "Give it back!" I held it above her head, a couple of centimetres too high for her to reach.  
"I _said_, we are here to _practise_." I leaned over to the laptop and started the music.

**Sunday, 3pm**  
**Chloe**  
I finished my make up and got my costume from the rack - a simple grey crop top and a pair of shorts with a small skirt at the back. I changed quickly and waited in the wings for Maddie and Mackenzie to go on for their duet. It would have been sweet if they didn't hate each other so much. Maddie walked past as I slid down into the splits, clipping her hairbow in as she got ready to go on. The lights dimmed and she stepped forward, finding her starting position in the centre of the stage. I watched the dance and waited for the judges to speak. Abby, of course, was singing their praises, and didn't mention how Mackenzie's foot slipped as she went into the first handstand, or how Maddie's flips weren't as strong as her sister's.  
The producers had decided that it would be best if my solo went last, so I sat through Jenna, Autumn and Sophia's trio, then Zack, Amy and Kalani's before I could go on. The stage went dark as the dancers stepped off, and Zack stopped beside me.  
"You'll be amazing," he whispered, "Trust me." I smiled nervously, checked that I hadn't smudged any of my make up, and then walked out. I froze in my starting position as the music began to play.  
_Do you have to make me feel like there's nothing left of me?_  
Alexa told me to use my emotions, and think about anything that helped me relate to the song as I was performing.  
_You can take everything I have,_  
I thought back to when Dance Moms was being filmed. I always blamed it on Abby, but really I was angry at Maddie. She took my solos, my music, my pyramid spot...even my friends. She once told Paige to keep away from me because "we're best friends now, and _she's_ a loner."  
Me and Paige had been friends for years though - she wasn't going to let Maddie snatch her away from me.  
_You can break everything I am,_  
Abby used to yell at me a lot. At first I would stand up for myself, but then I realised that it was pointless. She would never listen to me, the "talentless loser" of the studio.  
_like I'm made of glass, like I'm made of paper,_  
I felt like that sometimes. Like if Abby and Maddie and Mackenzie and Melissa didn't shut up, if they didn't stop taunting me with Maddie's trophies and crowns because "you'll never be good enough to win your own", I would just break.  
_go on and try to tear me down, I will be rising from the ground, like a skyscraper..._  
But if Abby did that to me now, I could take it. It had made me stronger, and I would never crumble or break under pressure again. I did have panic attacks sometimes, but they were getting further apart. I was getting better - I would never have to go to that awful hospital, never again.  
I stood up from my final position and waited for the judges to comment.  
"Good technique and emotional execution." Abby told me. I thought it was the biggest compliment she'd ever given me.  
"Good? Chloe, that performance was _amazing_." Richie corrected.  
"Your facials were perfect, and you were technically flawless. I could see the emotion in that dance. If you keep that up, you have a great shot at winning this competition." Alexa said. I beamed. This was definitely my best dance so far.  
I smiled as I walked off stage. Jenna and Zack were waiting in the wings.  
"Oh my god, you _killed_ that routine! There is no way that you are going home tonight," Jenna exclaimed, hugging me and then walking into the dressing room to redo her hair before eliminations.  
I stepped forward and Zack pulled me into his arms.  
"I told you so." He whispered. I blushed slightly in the darkness of the wings, glad that no cameras were around.  
"You did." I replied, my heart racing as I looked into Zack's chocolate-brown eyes.  
Electricity shot through my body as we kissed. I pulled away when I spotted the camera crew coming in, and Gianna told us to go onstage for eliminations.  
"First of all, I would like to congratulate Autumn, Mackenzie and Chloe on giving the best performances of the night. Go and sit with your parents," Abby said. I sat between Mom and Clara to watch.  
"Maddie, Zack and Kalani - go and sit down. You're all safe...for now."  
"Amy, you were 2 beats behind in your trio. Sophia, you were too slow in your turns, and Jenna - your feet weren't turned out when they were supposed to be. It was a tough decision, but we have decided that, due to your previous performances..."  
I smiled nervously at my friends, hoping that Sophia would be sent home.  
"Amy, today is _not _your day." Abby announced. Sophia rushed straight to her mom, while Jenna hugged Amy before she left to pack up her stuff.

**AN: So Alice_barrett reviewed this and gave it 83/100! What did you think of this chapter?**


	17. Chapter 17

p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"strongMonday, 10am/strongbr /strongChloe/strongbr /"This week's challenge is a dance battle. We already tested your improv skills, but how will you perform under pressure and adapt to the music?" Abby announced. Maddie and Mackenzie were up first, and as usual, Maddie won. She then went on to beat Jenna, Autumn and Sophia. br /"Zack, you're up."br /I watched him improv to the first part of Timber, getting right in Maddie's face...and distracting her. In her section, Maddie's timing was off, and she fell out of her turns. In her defence, she did cover it up well, but when you're in a room full of dancers, dance teachers and camera crews...only a third of them don't know the /"Chloe, get up here." br /I walked out to my spot. Zack was first again, dancing to Shake It Off this time, for about thirty seconds before it was my turn. I started with a cartwheel, closing the distance between us, then did a couple of turns on the spot. As my section came to an end, I used a trick I'd learnt from the several dance battles that I had been part of - I spun on my heel and kicked back with by right foot, then walked back to my spot. br /"Chloe, swap with Kalani."br /Kalani smiled smugly, subtly elbowing me as she stepped past me. The cameras wouldn't have caught /Despite her best hair flicking and smiles, Kalani was no match for my boyfriend. It turned out that when it came to songs like Fancy, she had no moves in her head, and hesitated before stepping into a turn /"Kalani, you're out, you know you can't hesitate in a dance battle," Abby announced. She turned to /"Your prize is to start the routine train. For those of you who don't know what that is, Zack will get a list of routines, and he will choose which one he wants to do. He then passes the routine train to someone else, and we keep going until everyone has a routine."br /Everyone nodded nervously. No one wanted to be last and get a dance that they hated, or one in their worst /"There are three duets and two solos this week," Abby told us, "and the first is a jazz duet called Rule The World. There's a lyrical duet entitled Defying Gravity, and a contemporary duet called Doomsday. One of the solos is a lyrical routine entitled Happy, and the other is also a lyrical dance, called Fairytale. Zack, do you know which routine you want?"br /Zack chose Happy, and passed the routine train on to me. I chose the other solo, Fairytale, and passed to Jenna. The jazz duet went to Sophia and Kalani, the lyrical to Maddie and Autumn, and the contemporary went to Jenna and Mackenzie, who were last to choose./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Jenna, Mackenzie - you'll be rehearsing with one of our guest choreographers in Studio A. Zack, Gianna will be teaching you your solo in Studio B. Chloe, you have Alexa in Studio C, and Richie will be teaching Rule The World in Studio D. Maddie, Autumn - you're with me in Studio E." A camera crew followed Abby into the interview room as we headed to our studios to warm up. /p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"strongAN: If you're having trouble picturing the kick-thing that Chloe does at the end of the dance battle, search 'ALDC vs Candy Apples Solo Battle' and watch the last part of Kendall's. I love that move :)/strong/p 


End file.
